Free guide · 7 min read
Korean for Korean barbecue
Korean barbecue is cooked at the table on a grill set into it, and the meal has its own order: choose the meat by the portion, grill it, cut it with scissors, wrap it in lettuce, and often finish with a stew or cold noodles. This guide follows that order.
Most barbecue restaurants sell meat by the 인분 (inbun), the portion for one person, and many insist on at least two, so it is a meal for two or more. The sentences are the ordering patterns from day 11 of the daily course with barbecue words dropped in, plus the drinking manners that come with the grill.
Choosing the meat
Order by the cut and the number of portions:
삼겹살 (samgyeopsal), pork belly in thick unmarinated strips, is the default, and 목살 (moksal), neck, is the leaner favourite. Beef, 소고기, costs a good deal more, and 한우 (hanu), Korean-raised beef, more again. A portion is usually 150 to 200 grams, and 2인분 is read 이인분, with the Sino-Korean numbers from day 8, because 인분 is a Sino-Korean counter.
At the grill
Staff will help if you ask:
At many restaurants staff grill for you, at least to begin with and especially for beef; at cheaper ones you do it yourself with tongs and scissors. When the plate turns black, ask for a fresh one with 불판 갈아 주세요 (bulpan gara juseyo); it is routine and usually free. Pork should be cooked through, and if you are unsure, 다 익었어요? gets a straight answer.
Eating it
Wrap it, dip it, eat it in one bite:
The standard mouthful is a 쌈 (ssam): a lettuce or perilla leaf, a piece of meat, a dab of 쌈장 (ssamjang), a thick soybean and chilli paste, perhaps a slice of garlic or green chilli, folded up and eaten in one bite. Two bites is not wrong, just messy. Raw garlic can go on the grill at the edge of the plate. The lettuce and side dishes are refilled free, like 반찬 anywhere.
Drinks and pouring
Order by the bottle:
At a Korean table you do not pour your own drink. You fill other people's glasses, and when someone older pours for you, hold your glass with both hands, or with one hand and the other touching your wrist or forearm. Younger people often turn their head slightly away from an older person when they drink. None of this is demanded of foreign guests, but it is noticed and appreciated. 병 (byeong) is the counter for bottles.
Finishing the meal
The meat is rarely the end:
Many people finish with 된장찌개 (doenjangjjigae) and a bowl of rice, or 냉면 (naengmyeon), cold buckwheat noodles, which are popular after barbecue all year round. Rice is often not included with the meat and is ordered separately as 공깃밥. Some places will fry rice on the grill plate with what is left, and 볶음밥 돼요? asks whether they do. Pay at the counter on the way out, as in any Korean restaurant.
These phrases get built into real conversation in the daily lessons. The first thirty days need no account, and the Hangul course will have you reading every sign in the guide.